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Sporting KC's 100th match at Sporting Park will have to wait until Wednesday after inclement weather forced the postponement of last night's game against the Colorado Rapids. It was the first such ocurrance in the stadium's four years of operation, though by no means the first time Mother Nature impacted the outcome of a matchday.
In fact, Kansas City played a part in the first abbreviated ending in MLS history in what is now one of five games for the club all-time that failed to be played in its entirety on the originally scheduled date:
- June 20, 1998: KC vs. D.C. United was cancelled in the 53rd minute due to severe weather at Arrowhead Stadium and was later replayed on Aug. 26.
- June 10, 2000: KC at D.C. United was suspended at halftime due to the lights failing at RFK Stadium. The 0-0 scoreline stood and Kansas City returned to RFK for MLS Cup 2000.
- September 16, 2001: The team's regular season finale against Colorado at Arrowhead Stadium was amongst 10 games cancelled league-wide in the aftermath of 9/11.
- Aug. 2, 2006: Thunderstorms postponed this fourth round U.S. Open Cup match between KC and the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois until Aug. 14.
- May 16, 2015: Severe weather prevented kickoff between Sporting KC and the Colorado Rapids with a rescheduled date to be determined for later in 2015.
While Saturday's match ultimately succumbed to a storm system which delivered flash flooding, tornado warnings and heavy lightning throughout the Kansas City area (resulting in more than 10,000 homes losing power), the initial weather delay was the fourth interruption at home since 2011:
- July 12, 2011: An 81-minute delay spelled trouble for Sporting KC in the team's first-ever loss at Sporting Park, a 2-0 defeat to the Richmond Kickers (USL) in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals.
- Aug. 8, 2012: Just over a year later, Sporting KC withstood a 43-minute delay en route to the team's U.S. Open Cup championship over the Seattle Sounders FC in a penalty shootout.
- Aug. 29, 2014: Sporting KC lost back-to-back matches at Sporting Park for the first time after dropping a 3-1 decision to Houston in a match that featured a 75-minute delay.
- May 16, 2015: After delaying kick off for nearly 75 minutes, MLS determined in its discretion to postpone the match after considering all relevant factors and circumstances.
In the end -- which came close to 8:45 p.m. CT in a break between two patches of storms -- Sporting Club CEO Robb Heineman took to Twitter to look ahead to the rescheduled fixture with all options open.
